A lot of food plays a role in the call of medicinal food. "Medicinal-food homology" is the wisdom that the ancients summed up in the discovery of food and medicine. Sun Simiao, a great physician of the Tang Dynasty, said that "to fill the hunger is called food, and to cure diseases is called medicine", this kind of food and medicine have the same bias, four qi and five tastes, in addition to providing basic nutrition, but also have therapeutic effects.
Commonly used ingredients to remove dampness
Poria poria: sweet, light, flat, with water seepage, spleen, calming effect, for edema and spleen deficiency and less stool.
Coix kernel: sweet, light, cool, with water seepage, spleen and anti-diarrhea, paralysis, pus removal, detoxification and loosening effect, for edema, spleen deficiency and diarrhea.
Red adzuki bean: sweet, sour, flat, with the effect of water reduction, detoxification and pus removal, for sores and carbuncle swelling poison, water swelling and fullness.
White lentils: sweet taste, warm, with a healthy spleen and dampness, and heat dissipation effect, for spleen and stomach weakness, loss of appetite, summer wet vomiting.
Qi Shi: sweet, astringent, flat nature, with the effect of kidney solidification, spleen and anti-diarrhea, dehumidification and stop belt, used for spleen deficiency for long-term diarrhea, kidney deficiency sperm enuresis, belt down.
Sand kernel: spicy, warm, with the effect of wet appetizer, warm stop diarrhea, rational qi and tire, used for wet resistance in the middle of the coke, spleen and stomach stagnation of abdominal distention and pain, spleen and stomach deficiency, vomiting and diarrhea.
Lotus leaf: bitter taste, flat nature, with the effect of refreshing the heat and reducing dampness, rising the sun, cooling the blood and stopping the bleeding, used for summer heat and thirst, summer wet diarrhea, spleen deficiency diarrhea.
Orange peel: spicy, bitter, warm, with the effect of rational qi and spleen, dry and humid phlegm, used for wet resistance in the middle of the coke, spleen and stomach stagnation of the abdomen full, less vomiting diarrhea.
Herbs: spicy, slightly warm, with aromatic wet, and stop vomiting, publishing the effect of relieving heat, used for wet resistance in focus, nausea and vomiting, summer wet evidence, chest tightness discomfort.
Wet ingredients are not for everyone
Medicinal and food dual-use Chinese medicine is not equivalent to food, they have bias, some may have slight toxicity, but the overall safety factor is larger, long-term or large application is not easy to poison. Because of this, its toxicity is easy to be ignored, people are prone to some misunderstandings when applying, the most common is that some people eat such as "coix kernel red bean porridge" for a long time all year round to get rid of damp health, thinking that this helps to maintain health.
In fact, take the "national health product" coix seed as an example, this flavor of medicinal herbs is slightly cold, has the function of healthy spleen and water, and is a representative plant of the grass family, delicious and easy to obtain, raw products are good to clear lung heat, eliminate carbuncle drainage pus; fried coix kernel is more suitable for healthy spleen and dampness, can be used for spleen deficiency edema, spleen deficiency diarrhea, so if long-term use, fried coix kernel is more suitable.
It should be noted that coix kernel can promote uterine contraction, "Pinhui Essentials" mentioned in "pregnancy can not be taken"; "to match the Materia Medica" more specifically restricts the inapplicable population, "insufficient kidney water, insufficient spleen and yin, qi deficiency, pregnancy, four prohibited", that is, insufficient qi and blood and yin deficiency, lack of jin liquid, frequent dry mouth is not suitable for long-term consumption of coix kernel; spleen deficiency and loose stool are only suitable for eating fried coix kernel, not raw coix kernel.
Other wet ingredients also have their own suitable or restricted food groups, such as:
Poria is more suitable for public consumption, but those with dry stools are not suitable for long-term consumption;
Herbs are more suitable for taking during the hot summer season when feeling the wind and internal injuries;
Lotus leaves are best suited for summer porridge or steamed in meat to flavor and color;
White lentils can adjust the spleen and stomach, nourish the lungs, but contain non-specific plant lectins, have a certain inhibitory effect on thrombin, and have a certain toxicity, heating or prolonging the contact cooking time can greatly reduce toxicity;
Sand kernels are more suitable for consumption as condiments;
Red adzuki bean can make the damp heat excrete from the urine, and make a "red adzuki bean crucian carp soup" with crucian carp, which is suitable for patients with edema;
It is more suitable for patients with spleen deficiency and loose stool, women with spleen deficiency, chronic kidney disease, and is also suitable for patients with proteinuria, but constipation and difficulty in defecation should be used with caution;
Orange peel is more suitable for making medicinal food, such as "tangerine peel beef" or "tangerine peel hawthorn", etc., which have the effect of stomach digestion and promoting digestion.
Identify the physique and choose the ingredients
If you do not distinguish the physique, do not know the medicinal cold and heat, indications and contraindications, blind abuse of ingredients, the consequences may not be satisfactory. There are cold and hot medicinal properties, and people's physiques also have cold and hot, and when applying medicinal and food dual-use Chinese medicines, we must first know whether our constitution is cold or hot.
Cold physique: mostly yang deficiency, white and fat body, no color, cold and warm, cold limbs, thin stool, long nocturnal urine, easy hair, weak pulse, fat tongue, light tongue, multiple tooth marks, it is advisable to choose warm Chinese medicine, such as cloves, star anise, cumin, cinnamon, pepper, galangal, ginger (ginger, dry difference), black pepper and other medicinal and food dual-use Chinese medicine.
Hot physique: mostly yin deficiency, more emaciated body, flushed face, dry mouth and throat, often like cold drinks, hot hands and siblings, less sleep upset, easy to constipation, yellow when urinating, red tongue and less moss or no moss, fine and number of veins, it is advisable to choose cold Chinese medicine, such as lily, jade bamboo, chrysanthemum, cassia, gardenia, honeysuckle, locust flower, wolfberry, etc.
Qi stagnation type physique: it is more common to see the body is thin, the face is pale yellow, the chest ribs are stuffy, the desire is too breathless, or there is a stalk in the pharynx, the tongue is dark, the pulse is heavy or astringent, it is advisable to choose bergamot, citron, orange red, orange peel, mint, etc. that have the work of qi.
Phlegm turbid physique: polymorphic obesity, skin and flesh easy to relax, weight, dizziness, chest tightness, loose stool, fat tongue, mossy, pulse or slippery, it is advisable to choose poria, coriander, coix kernel, coix and other medicinal and food dual-use Chinese medicines with phlegm or dampness.
Choose ingredients to get rid of moisture
In hot and humid weather, people are susceptible to the invasion of wet evil, chest tightness, palpitations, loss of appetite, general sleepiness, and often accompanied by symptoms such as mental malaise and drowsiness. Because the spleen "likes dryness and dampness" is most affected by wet evil, the digestive function of the spleen and stomach is poor at this time. Therefore, in the small full and mangspring, it should be mainly based on healthy spleen and wetness. Herbs, sand kernels, cardamom, etc. are aromatic drugs, containing volatile oil, the frying time should not be too long, 10 to 15 minutes can be. Aromatic medicines are better used as condiments. Legumes such as white lentils and red adzuki beans should be cooked and eaten, otherwise they are easy to be poisoned.
Poria cake
【Raw materials】 70% japonica rice, 30% white glutinous rice, plus an appropriate amount of poria, mustard fruit, lotus seed meat, yam.
【Method】 The raw materials are crushed into a powder, add an appropriate amount of water, stir evenly to make cakes, and eat daily.
Yam coix kernel japonica rice porridge
【Ingredients】Poria (grinding) 30 grams, coix kernels 30 grams, yam 50 grams, japonica rice 100 grams.
【Directions】 Add japonica rice, coix seeds and yam to an appropriate amount of water, cook until semi-cooked, add poria powder, and cook well, eat on an empty stomach.
Coix porridge with mushrooms
【Ingredients】200 grams of coix seeds, 10 grams of poria, 200 grams of japonica rice, 50 grams of chicken breast meat, 4 dried shiitake mushrooms.
【Directions】 Soak the shiitake mushrooms and dice them. Peel and grease the chicken breasts, cook for 30 to 40 minutes, remove and dice. Poria powder. Wash the coix seeds, soak them overnight in hot water, drain and add 7 times the water to a boil, boiling. Cook the japonica rice with 5 times the water for 1 hour, combine with the coix porridge, add shiitake mushrooms, diced chicken and poria powder and cook until thick. Seasoning may be added when serving.
Red bean crucian carp soup
【Ingredients】 50 grams of red adzuki beans, 1 crucian carp (about 500 grams), 6 grams of tangerine peel, 6 grams of grass and fruit, a little green onion, ginger and pepper.
【Directions】 Cook the soup once a day for 1 month. Suitable for edema, ascites and dystrophic edema caused by low protein.
Five-spice powder
The powder of spices such as sand kernels, cloves, peppercorns, star anise, fennel and nutmeg is mixed to make "five-spice powder", which can be used to make five-spiced tofu, five-spice beans, etc.
Tips
Patients who have been taking drugs such as lowering blood pressure, lowering sugar or regulating blood lipids for a long time should consult a practicing Chinese medicine physician or Chinese medicine practitioner when choosing dual-use Chinese medicine and food, so as to avoid antagonism between Chinese and Western medicines, reduce each other's efficacy, or increase toxic side effects. If discomfort occurs after taking the drug, you should seek medical attention in time.
Reprinted: Popular Medicine
Issue 6, 2019, pp. 68-69
Author: Wang Haiying